The Baochang during the Republic of China was a non-government official who was responsible for local security and conveying administrative orders. It was roughly equivalent to the current position of village chief.
In fact, the same job nature as the Baochang is the Jia Chang. Together, it is the "Bao Jia System" that everyone has heard of. The Baojia system originated in ancient China. Because the ancient imperial court had limited control over towns, especially villages, in order to strengthen the management of towns and villages, the Baojia system was introduced. Specifically, ten households constitute one Jia, and a chief is elected; ten households constitute one guarantor, and one guarantor is elected.
In other words, 100 households are one guarantee, and those who can serve as the chief guarantee are all local retired officials or wealthy squires. Because only the villagers living in the town can cooperate with the government's work.
At the beginning of the Republic of China, in order to show that it was building a brand new country, the Republic of China government insisted on abolishing the Baojia system. Later, they found that the Baojia system was still very helpful to them in managing the countryside, so they restored the system. After all, wars continued during the Republic of China, and it was difficult for the county government's orders to be conveyed to the countryside. Only with the presence of Baochang, they could handle emergencies, convey government orders, and maintain local security when the county government was away.
Is it voluntary labor to be a security guard? Of course not. The guardian needs to register with the county government, obtain approval from the county government, and then receive a certain salary from the county government every month based on the registration. But to say that they are civil servants of the Republic of China government is not true. They can only be regarded as temporary workers of the government and are non-staff personnel.
It has to be said that the security chiefs played a big role during the Republic of China. When the Nanjing National Government wanted to recruit troops, it relied on the cooperation of the local security chiefs to capture so many strong men. It was also because of their help that the Nanjing National Government was able to receive so much tax.
To sum up, the Baochang during the Republic of China was a non-staff member of the government who was responsible for political security and conveying administrative orders in village-level areas. Nowadays, it is probably the position of village chief, but they have much more power than the village chief.